Learning how to keep your heart healthy is foundational to your overall health. In this article we will explore heart health tips – lifestyle factors like diet, nutrients, and exercise. Follow these simple habits for a healthier heart to unlock a healthy, happy life. 

1. Exercise

We know you’ve heard it before. The key to a healthier heart is diet and exercise, exercise and diet. Research shows time and again that consistent – and persistent – exercise is positively tied to optimizing heart health. If you think about it this way – how to keep your heart healthy with exercise – then it makes sense: The heart is a muscle, and exercise is the act of moving and improving muscles.

If you want to know how to take care of your heart, exercising regularly can lead to lower blood pressure,2 an optimal cholesterol level,3 and improved blood sugar regulation.4

Exercise can help regulate how your blood vessels expand and dilate. Optimal blood vessel elasticity enables the body to more effectively deliver blood to the areas of the body that need it most, in addition to supporting optimal blood pressure. Essentially, exercise adds more lanes to the freeway to better deliver fuel, nutrients, and oxygen.   

Yet only an estimated 23 percent of U.S. adults meet the recommended daily activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle strengthening exercise.1

Beginning an exercise routine is challenging. For individuals who want to know how to have a healthy heart, the first step is choosing the right kind of exercise.

Different healthy heart exercises are right for different people, depending on a person’s age, ability, and interests.

At the most basic, different exercises and workouts are in one of two categories:

  • Aerobic – also known as cardio or endurance training, aerobic exercise uses muscles continuously for longer periods of time, with oxygen being the primary source of fuel. Examples include walking, hiking, jogging, cycling, and endurance swimming.
  • Anaerobic – Typical of strength training, anaerobic exercise is short bursts of physical activity with strategic periods of rest in between, with the body using fuel sources other than oxygen. Examples include weightlifting, sprinting, and interval training.

It’s important to note that any workout for a healthy heart should feature both endurance training and strength training, although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to a heart healthy workout.

How much exercise do you need? As a rule of thumb, adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity weekly – that’s about 20 minutes per day – but you can get even more health benefits with 300 minutes weekly. Moderate activity doesn’t have to happen all at one time; small periods of activity throughout the day – like a five-minute walking break once every hour – can add to your weekly total. Strength training should be included at least twice a week.

2. Diet

Of the various things that are good for your heart, diet is a top factor to consider. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. 

A heart-healthy diet includes choosing fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, foods with limited amounts of saturated fats, and foods with few to no added sugars. If you have high blood pressure, then choose foods that are low in sodium. 

In addition to avoiding the wrong kinds of fats, like trans fats, it’s important to get enough of the good fats – from olive oil and fatty fish, for example. Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from fish promote heart health and circulation. Recent findings indicate that to achieve a desirable amount of EPA and DHA in your cell membranes, three meals of fish weekly might be the most beneficial.

Nutrition labels provide information about what kinds of macronutrients and micronutrients are in processed and packaged foods. It’s a good habit to read the Nutrition Facts label on foods to ensure you are getting the right nutrients and portion sizes. 

Beyond choosing the right foods, a big step toward how to keep your heart healthy with diet is to prepare more foods at home. When you cook at home, you have control over what goes into your meals. When you order food at a restaurant or get takeout, you don’t know what ingredients are used – what cooking oils, how much salt, and how much sugar, for example. 

Does your work and family schedule keep you so busy you can’t cook at home every night? Then try making one night a week a “meal prep” night: Make a larger amount of food and portion it out into manageable servings. When meal planning for heart health, think about red foods like red onions, tomatoes, and beans, and red meat. Kick up the flavor with heart-healthy spices like cinnamon, garlic, and cayenne.

Need inspiration for snacks to tide you over between meals? Nuts are packed with heart-healthy nutrients. Research shows that a few servings of nuts each week can help keep your heart in optimal health. Nuts are full of healthy unsaturated fats, which can help lower LDL cholesterol, and they contain a variety of micronutrients that promote optimal heart and muscle function. Look for unsalted almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, and even peanuts (although botanically a legume, the humble peanut is rich in many of the same nutrients as tree nuts).

A final piece of inspiration for how to get a healthy heart with diet is to explore a Mediterranean-style diet. Research shows the Mediterranean diet – with a focus on fresh vegetables, olive oil, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and moderate amounts of fish and lean meats – protects against heart disease.

3. Nutrients

What can you do to keep your heart healthy in addition to diet and exercise? Supplemental nutrients can help you maintain an optimal cardiovascular system.* There are many nutrients for heart health, and you should consult your health-care practitioner to find out which ones are best for you. The following are several key nutrients that go beyond diet and lifestyle to support your heart.*

Magnesium – Needed to help regulate the heart rate and rhythm, magnesium helps maintain normal blood pressure and healthy heart muscle function.*

Folate – Also known as vitamin B9, folate is necessary for maintaining a healthy homocysteine level,* which is important because homocysteine, when elevated, can contribute to unhealthy blood vessels.

Omega-3 fatty acids – Often found in fatty fish like salmon and tuna or in fish oil supplements, the two most important fatty acids are EPA and DHA. They both support healthy blood circulation, normal triglyceride levels, and healthy blood pressure.*

Coenzyme Q10 – Also called CoQ10, it’s an antioxidant that plays a role in energy production throughout the body, but particularly in the cells that make up the heart.* CoQ10 from food sources and as a nutritional supplement promotes normal heart function.*

The Thorne supplement Heart Health Complex is a blend of magnesium, CoQ10, amino acids, and botanicals that promote a healthy functioning heart.* Another Thorne supplement, Metabolic Health, provides two phytosome complexes – curcumin and bergamot – to help maintain optimal levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, and weight.* For comprehensive lipid support, Thorne’s Healthy Lipids Bundle is a three-supplement package that includes Choleast-900 (a red yeast rice formula) and two botanical formulas, Berberine and Curcumin Phytosome.*

References

  1. Piercy K, Troiano R, Ballard R, et al. The physical activity guidelines for Americans. JAMA 2018;320(19):2020-2028.
  2. Padilla J, Wallace J, Park S. Accumulation of physical activity reduces blood pressure in pre- and hypertension. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2005;37(8):1264-1275.
  3. Kraus W, Houmard J, Duscha B, et al. Effects of the amount and intensity of exercise on plasma lipoproteins. N Engl J Med 2002;347(19):1483-1492.
  4. Colberg S, Hernandez M, Shahzad F. Blood glucose responses to type, intensity, duration, and timing of exercise. Diabetes Care 2013;36(10):e177.